According to Gary Lawless in the Winnipeg Free Press, Gary Bettman is ready to cancel the NHL season this coming Thursday if a deal isn’t done or appears imminent.

Lawless was told this information from a “veteran member of the NHL’s board of Governors.”

He writes that the league is under the impression that Donald Fehr isn’t interested in making a deal until after Bettman has cancelled the season and he is intentionally slowing down the talks.

Lawless adds that Bettman would be willing to talk after he cancels the season but will only be interested in making a deal for 2013-14 and at that point, the proposal that the NHL makes will be different from the one currently on the table.